An annuity or an “annuity structure” might be characterized as a contract in which an individual or other entity agrees to pay a premium, in the form of a lump sum, to an insurance company, or other issuing entity, and in exchange receives a regular stream of income from the insurance company over a period of time. The period of time might be a set number of years or for life, for example. In accordance with another aspect of an annuity, an annuity or an “annuity structure” might be characterized as a contract that is structured to accumulate premiums plus interest leading up to maturity of the annuity, and then distribute the proceeds of the annuity through a series of regular payments over the period of time. For example, annuities may be structured to protect against the risk of a person living longer than is expected and, as a result, outliving the person's accumulated savings, which may be a concern in other savings plan arrangements.
Known annuity structures simply do not provide a degree of flexibility that would be desirable by persons. For example, currently, deferred annuities are known to have to accommodate partial annnuitization, or have multiple start dates to the payout stream. However, in this type of a known transaction, the annuity is split into two contracts or a supplemental contract is created in order to have two or more annuity commencement dates (ACDs). Accordingly, even this type of annuity does not provide the degree of flexibility that is desired.